Snip, Burn, Solder, Shred

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DIRT-CHEAP BOUTIQUE STOMP BOXES: THE TWO-TRANSISTOR FUZZTONE

The last of our Dirt-Cheap Boutique Stomp Boxes is the Two-Transistor Fuzztone. This is a dirty, rudimentary amplifier, where one transistor overdrives another and the resulting signal is asymmetrically clipped by a set of diodes.1 The result is a thick, aggressive, Hendrixesque tone with greatly increased sustain and sensitivity. This design is based on T. Escobedo’s adaptation of Christian Holmberg’s2 venerable Bazz Fuss fuzztone box. Like any boutique effect worth its salt, both the Blinkie Tremolo from the previous project and the Two-Transistor Fuzztone have true bypass switches, so you can bring the effects in and out of the effects chain without having to unplug everything, ...